


Summer Vacation

by ReesieReads



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Everyone Has Issues, Everyone Needs A Hug, Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Sympathetic Deceit | Janus Sanders, Thomas loves his sides, tsxsidesweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:48:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24758815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReesieReads/pseuds/ReesieReads
Summary: Thomas is invited on vacation with his friends Joan and Talyn, along the way he comforts his sides who all need help in their own ways. Thomas loves his sides, and he'll do anything he can to help.(For tsxsidesweek on Tumblr, meant platonically but can be taken romantically)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 54





	1. Summer Clothes

Thomas looked at his closet skeptically, his eyes mainly focused on his summer area. Logan had him separate his clothes by color and season months ago, and while he was thankful he was only just now noticing his limited amount of summer clothing. Other than a few t-shirts and a single pair of shorts, Thomas had nothing to last him through the next three months. Normally that wouldn’t be an issue, but Joan and Talyn had invited him to go on a vacation with them and he wanted to be dressed appropriately, California was hot after all.

“Hey Logan,” Thomas hummed, “can I afford to spend any money on clothes?”

The logical side rose up, a checkbook and calculator in his hands. Logan looked refined as usual, wearing his usual black polo and blue tie. Adjusting his glasses, the side began mumbling to himself as he quickly went over the math. Logan typically could answer things straight away, but math had never been Thomas’ strong suit. Thomas allowed him time to compute the problem, laying out his limited clothing options out on his bed.

“It appears Thomas,” Logan said stiffly “that you have exactly $500.80 saved for leisure, that you could possibly use to purchase new articles of clothing. However, I must ask, can you not just use your spring clothing? Your spring sectional is your largest and the clothing would still work for summer.”

To Thomas’ surprise, Janus rose up beside him. The deceitful side looked as classy as he usually did, layers of clothing piled over each other dramatically. The snake-like side placed his hands in their usual deceiving matter, something Thomas had quickly learned was his tell for lying. Janus had been horrified when he mentioned it, but he made no effort to fix the issue. Thomas almost wondered if the deceitful side even wanted to hide his lying.

“It obviously ‘not’ because Thomas wants to spoil himself with some new clothing before his vacation,” Janus lied “right Thomas?”

He shrugged, “I mean, it would be nice. I haven’t been clothes shopping in… gosh I don’t even know.”

Janus nodded, “Logan did say you have the money to spend. You deserve to treat yourself Thomas, and you could also do with a new wardrobe.”

“I see no problem with this,” Logan agreed “gaining new clothing is proven to help improve one's self-esteem and boost their ego, Roman will certainly appreciate the endeavor. That being said, I would like to suggest that you do not use all the money you have saved. It is only the beginning of June, and you may need the money for later.”

“Cool,” Thomas said, already going to grab his keys and wallet “lets go!”

It didn’t take very long to get to Target, seeing as there was one just down the street from where he lived. Once he had parked, and locked the car multiple times over per Virgil’s request, he made his way inside. The cool area inside was refreshing, and he relished in it for a moment before going to grab a cart. Perhaps it was unnecessary, but he wasn’t sure how much clothing he was buying and he didn’t want to get stuck carrying it all.

Both Roman and Logan appeared at his side at the same time, Logan with a checklist and Roman with an even longer checklist. Thomas only groaned as the two bickered, one insisting to buy only what was necessary and the other wanting to buy what was basically a whole new wardrobe.The argument only died when Virgil appeared snapping at them to shut up. 

“This is supposed to be fun,” Virgil said with a sigh “I shouldn’t have to be working right now.”

Logan raised an eyebrow, “previous conversations would suggest that you would not mind such a thing?”

“Please,” Virgil said with an eyeroll, “I hate work, it's exhausting. I do my job because it's my job, doesn’t mean I don’t want a break now and again.”

“Which is exactly why I’m taking this vacation,” Thomas interrupted “Janus said that I needed to relax and reset, that's exactly what I plan to do. However, I can’t do that without clothes to do it in, hence the clothes shopping.”

“Considering you live in Florida,” Logan said “shouldn’t you already have more clothing made for warm weather?”

“Wouldn’t it have been your job to convince him to do that teach?” Virgil asked, hands stuffed deep in his pockets “that sounds like something you should have reminded him of.”

“I-” Logan went to argue, but found he couldn’t “I suppose I may have… overlooked that particular detail. I shall add the reminder to my notebook.”

Thomas grinned, “thanks Logan.”

Finding the clothes wasn’t hard, summer clothes were in stock in the moment sense it was summer, the only problem was finding the right things. Roman helped him pick some more t-shirts, along with some light-weight button-ups and a few pairs of shorts. Remus had interrupted as well, and had even managed to convince Thomas to head into the woman’s section and pick up a few crop-tops and skirts. The twins hadn’t even argued, much to Thomas’ delight.

“You know,” Thomas hummed, “I really like it when you two get aloung.”

The two sides shared a look before Roman turned away and huffed “this is a one time thing! Remus’ style is simply more casual than mine, I’m just making sure you don’t blow all your money!”

Remus cackled, “yeah right Roro! Admit it, you loooovvvveeee me!”

Roman groaned, shoving his stinking twin in the shoulder. Thomas grinned as the two fell into a playful banter, placing a pink crop top with a star into his cart. It was unlikely he would actually wear the items out, Virgil would make him anxious to, but he didn’t see any issues in treating himself. Besides, he could always just wear them around the house, no one could stop him.

In the changing room, Patton finally decided to rise up to greet him. The moral side hadn’t shown up as much lately, he apparently had decided to take a step back and try to reflect. Thomas was glad to see him though, he loved all of his sides but Patton had always been the closest to him. Patton had been there from the very beginning, always there to lend him a hand.

“What do you think?” Thomas asked, spinning around in a circle to show off his navy button up and knee-length black skirt with a few stars printed in the corner.

“You look great Kiddo!” Patton said with a wide smile, “why don’t you pick up a dress or two? I’m sure you would look… steller.”

“Nice one,” Thomas said “and maybe I will. Though I did want to ask Pat, are you okay?”

The moral side froze, and Thomas watched in the mirror as Patton’s smile faltered. It wasn’t by much though, and he didn’t bother to fix it like he normally did. Thomas allowed him time to think of what he wanted to say, changing into his next outfit as he did. Normally he would call the others to help him talk to Patton, but for once Thomas just wanted to face his emotions head on.

“I just realized,” Patton began “that you haven’t been this happy, this carefree in a long time. And.. and I know that's my fault, for repressing these feelings and for cutting out Janus even though he’s your self-preservation and for forcing you to do the selfless thing even if I knew it wouldn’t make you happy. I know I’m learning, and I know I want to do better but… I still feel bad you know? I just… I’m sorry Thomas.”

Thomas quickly shook his head, sitting down besides the now crying side. He pulled Patton into a side hug, trying to ignore his own tears that were pricking in his eyes. Crying in public wasn’t something he should be ashamed of, but some old habits die hard. Thomas almost wished Janus was here, the deceitful side would know exactly what to say to comfort his moral side, but he knew that wouldn’t happen. No, Thomas had to take the first step, he had to be the one to accept that he wasn’t okay and allow action to be taken to fix it. That all started with Patton.

“It's okay Patton,” Thomas said softly, “you thought you were doing the right thing, and even if you messed up a little, we all made mistakes. Besides, you're working to be better, you're doing what you need to in order to change, and I’d say that's pretty admirable. You fixed things with Roman, everyone’s accepted now, and we have so many things to look forward to. I know it's hard when your room is literally littered with all my memories, but maybe, just maybe we can try looking to the future instead of the past?”

“Okay,” Patton said sniffing “okay, we can try that.”

Thomas smiled, “Janus would be proud you know.”

“I know,” Patton said with a shaky chuckle “now why don’t you go pick out a few of those dresses huh?”


	2. Beach Day

The flight had been alright, albeit a bit of a hassle. Thomas couldn’t get seats for his sides (for obvious reasons), so if one of them wanted to speak he had to communicate with them through his head. For most people that was their normal method, their only method, but for Thomas it was an exhausting task. He supposed it was a good thing though, sense it made it easy to fall asleep amongst the loud chatter from the other passengers.

Logan had been even more uptight than usual, stressing about the time and schedule. That of course triggered an already anxious Virgil, and Thomas just about had a panic attack right in the middle of the airport. Then Patton almost had him go up to just about every dog owner and ask to pet their dogs, Logan luckily reigned him in. Then right before they boarded Remus chose to spout every fact he could think of about plane crashes, which actually did trigger Virgil enough for Thomas to have a panic attack in the middle of the airport.

When they finally did get on the plan, Roman insisted Thomas begin writing immediately. It was going fine, just another script for the Asides until Remus chose to join in. The twins began squabbling, making it practically impossible for Thomas to even write anything in the first place. Janus ended up silencing them, apparently sending them back to their rooms. Thomas was grateful, and he let Janus convince him to get some sleep.

Now here he was, in California of all places. Joan and Talyn said they were going to go say hi to a few of Talyn’s family members, which left Thomas a few hours to do whatever he wished. As expected, his sides had a few ideas. Roman popped up first, followed quickly by Virgil and Logan, then Remus, then Janus, and lastly Patton. Something told him that this was going to end in yet another bout of arguing and talking in circles to himself for an hour.

“He should go out! See the sights!” Roman insisted, “he could get so much inspiration here!”

“He can do that later Princey,” Virgil growled. “It's his first day, let him relax for a moment.”

“He slept on the plane!”

“Roman,” Janus drawled, “you of all sides know a little nap is not nearly enough to replenish one's energy.”

“Yeah!’ Remus cut in, “he needs a good fucking is what he needs!”

“I can’t see how that would help whatsoever,” Logan said simply “besides, he has no one to coppulate with. You also know full well that he will not do it with a full-fledged stranger, Patton and Virgil would never allow it.”

“Oh but you would Lolo?”

“If I could cut in kiddos-”

“Aw come on Virgil, he needs to see the sights!”

“No, he needs to stay home and wait for Talyn and Joan! He has no idea what's around here! He could get lost.”

“Guys I-”

“Come on Thomas, I’m sure theres a few good guys looking for a good fuck around here!”

“Remus please, you already know Thomas is not going to listen to you-”

“ENOUGH!” Janus shouted, slamming the end of his cane on the hardwood of the hotel room floor “Patton, what was your suggestion?”  
The moral side fidgeted with his hands, adjusting his cardigan and glasses out of nerves. Patton had finally started joining conversations again, but the others had clearly gotten used to his absence (or they simply didn’t care for it but Thomas didn’t want to admit that). Janus had been the only one listening to Patton as of late, something that the moral side was clearly grateful for if their ever growing relationship proved anything. The others were silent, staring at Patton like they hadn’t even noticed that he was there.

“Well kiddos,” Patton muttered “I figured we could go to the beach behind the hotel?”

The other sides shared looks, and Thomas felt himself nodding without even thinking about it “That could work.”

Virgil shuffled his feet, “it's not like he can get lost I guess.”

“And I suppose that would count as sight-seeing,” Roman said with a huff.

“Plus there would be a ton of hot dudes there!” Remus said whilst wiggling his eyebrows, “shirtless too!”

“I suppose that would be sufficient,” Logan said as he adjusted his glasses “as Roman would say ‘I shall suffice a few points to you.’”

Janus smirked, “yes, good job Patton. I suppose we will be going to the beach then.”

Patton smiled shyly, “thanks fellas!”

Thomas grinned, glad to see his sides finally agree on something for once. He quickly gathered all of the things he would need into his beach bag with some help from Logan and Virgil. The bag was a bright pink with small yellow stars printed all across it. Virgil was nervous about going in public with it, but Thomas assured him that it would be fine. After putting on a black tank-top, red swim shorts with his signature yellow star, and red flip-flops, Thomas made his way to the beach.

When he got there the beach was thankfully not as crowded as he assumed it would be. A few adults laid on towels, some wrangled small children, others buying food at the small shop tucked in the corner. A few older children were there as well, some wading in the waters and others running around the beach playing tag. It was surprisingly peaceful, much calmer than any of the beaches in Florida at least.

“It's rather beautiful isn’t it?”

Thomas jumped, turning to see a certain deceitful side standing next to him. To his surprise, Janus was wearing a black tee-shirt, along with a pair of yellow swim shorts covered in small versions of his symbol and yellow flip-flops. The only familiar item the side wore was his black bowler hat, a small amount of brown hair peeking out of the edge. He held an air of calm around him, like he was absolutely sure everything would be alright.

“What do you mean?” Thomas asked.

“All those children ignorant to the world’s problems,” Janus said, his voice soft and laced with yearning “so naive and trusting, believing everyone had their best interest.”

Thomas blinked in surprise, looking over to study the deceitful side. Janus wasn’t facing him, his human side hardly visible from the angle he was standing. It was hard to miss how watery the side’s eyes were though, his eyes following one little boy who was running from his older sister. Perhaps it was because he hadn’t truly known Janus that long (not well anyway), but he had never seen the deceitful side look so sad, so defeated.  
“Janus,” Thomas asked softly “whats wrong?”

“Nothing Thomas,” Janus said, looking away “your fine.”

“Sure,” he agreed, “but you're not.”

Janus flinched, arms wrapping around each other “I don’t know what you're talking about.”

“You don’t have to talk about it,” Thomas said “but know that me and the others are always here for you if you want to talk. I know that some of them are still warming up to you, but all of them do care about you Janus.”

The deceitful didn’t reply, eyes trained on the boy. For a moment Thomas wondered if he had even heard him, but then he realzied that was stupid sense Janus was part of his imagination. Thomas almost wished that Patton were here, the moral side would be so much better at this then he was. Patton wasn’t here though, not presently anyway, and Thomas couldn’t depend on the moral side all the time just to get through to Janus. After all, the deceitful side was a part of him, it was about time he got to know that part of himself.

“I miss when you were little,” Janus whispered “you had no idea how awful the world was, all you cared about was playing with your toys. Roman didn’t struggle so much, Patton actually was really happy, Logan didn’t feel ignored or like he had to hide his feelings, Virgil didn’t feel like the world was against him, things were so much… better.”

“What about you, what about Remus?” Thomas pointed out.

He looked down, “Remus and Roman used to be so close when you were little, you still ignored him, but at least his brother hadn’t shoved him to the side yet. I...I was really great back then, when it was so easy to get you to take care of yourself, when you didn’t panic every time you told a little white lie. You were just… so much happier back when you were little.”

Thomas sighed, looking down at the little boy with dark brown hair and pale skin, the one who looked so similar to himself when he was that age “Janus, I know… I know I may never be as happy as I was as a kid, that I won’t ever be able to forget about how awful the world can be at times, but I’m willing to try to be happy the way I am now. No matter how much I change over the years, no matter how many rough patches I have, I will always be able to be happy again.

“I know that when I was a teenager I shut you and Remus and Virgil out, and I’m so sorry for that. I want to make up for it though, I want to learn how to accept every part of myself, even the weird parts. No ones perfect, I know that, but I think everyone has a little good in them, even the worst guy on Earth. My point is, happiness isn’t as far off as you may think. I can be happy even when the world is grey, it isn’t far away, and I can’t wait.”

Janus didn’t reply, but Thomas didn’t miss how his hands loosened their grip on his arms. Neither of them spoke for some time, just living with each other's presence. The deceitful side had doubts, he probably always would, but Thomas was willing to work to let Janus see how great the world could be even with all the bad. Maybe it would take some time, but he had the time to work on it. 

“Thank you Thomas,” Janus said softly.

“Of course Jan,” he said with a smile “you’ll see what I’m talking about eventually.”

“Oh, I have no doubt,” Janus said with a smirk, finally turning to face Thomas “also ‘Jan’ really?”

“Sorry, I had to,” Thomas said with a chuckle.

Janus rolled his eyes, “of course Thomas, because not saying something is absolutely impossible.”

The snake-faced side stared at Thomas fondly, a large grin breaking out on his face. It was hard to remember that Janus was actually a rather big dork when he had gone so long with such a formal facade. Thomas figured it was something he could get used to though, and he hoped he could see it more often. 

Something caught Thomas’ eye and he glanced behind Janus in surprise to see a sneaking Roman. The creative side pressed a finger to his lips, and a huge grin rested on his face. Janus looked like he hadn’t noticed, but he could never tell with the deceitful side. Then to Thomas’ horror Roman snatched the snake-faced side’s hat, quickly beginning to sprint down to the beach. Janus’ eyes widened as he realized what happened and broke into a chase. Thomas laughed as the two ran across the beach, weaving between people.

He could get used to this.


	3. Ice Cream

The first night of his vacation and Thomas was watching a horror movie. It wasn’t something he would have chosen himself, but Joan was taking him to see the second It, and so Thomas needed to see the first one to understand it. Joan would have let him back out if he had wanted, but Thomas was determined to get through this, even if it killed him.

So here he was, curled up in the sheets on his bed with a tub of ice cream sitting on his lap. Admittedly ice cream wasn’t a very good snack when watching a movie, especially a horror movie, but he needed the comfort and according to Logan the serotonin. It was just vanilla, nothing special, but it was comforting nonetheless.

Patton had taken Virgil and Roman into the mindscape kitchen to help him cook, just to distract them all from the horrors they would inevitably face. Janus was with Logan, in a state of perpetual denial that Logan was only fueling in hopes it would help them get through this. The two were in Janus' room according to Logan, and Thomas couldn’t say he knew where that was but he could tell the two of them were safe.

That left Remus, who had suddenly popped up at Thomas’ side as soon as he had sat down. It wasn’t that the intrusive side’s presence wasn’t expected, it was kind of well known that horror was up his alley. However what wasn’t expected was for the side to be sitting completely still in neon green pajamas with his symbol on them, and being completely silent. The sight was almost more unnerving then any horror game he had ever played, which was saying something considering Joan was his best friend.

“Hey Remus,” Thomas said softly, placing the untouched ice cream and spoon on the nightstand next to him “you okay?”

The intrusive side turned, blood red eyes not meeting his creator’s as he showed a small smile, one nowhere near as unhinged as it normally was “as good as a dog humping a wall!”  
Thomas cringed slightly, but otherwise ignored the thought “you know lying really doesn’t suit you.”

Remus deflated slightly, smile slipping off his face as he started fidgeting with his cropped shirt “I’m good Thomathy! Just start the movie would ya’?”

Thomas didn’t want to, and his instincts were screaming at him to put everything on hold and fix whatever was wrong (though maybe that was just Patton), but he obliged anyway. Something he had learned over the last few months was that forcing his sides to talk only made them retreat further into themselves. He would just have to be patient and wait until Remus was ready to talk.

That didn’t mean he had to do nothing though. Placing the carton of ice cream between the two of them, Thomas got up to grab a second spoon from the package he had bought at Walgreens before handing it to Remus. The intrusive side didn’t respond, but a small smile did make its way onto his moustached face. 

The two ate in silence, Thomas jumping at every loud noise the movie made while Remus simply cackled. He knew logically that letting Remus watch was just giving him more fuel to torment him with, but for some reason he almost didn’t mind. After all, anxiety wasn’t the nicest thing either and he didn’t shun Virgil for doing his job, he would be a hypocrite to do the same to Remus (or Janus for that matter).

“Feelings suck!” Remus suddenly burst out, making Thomas jump before he scrambled to pause the movie “there gross, and not in the cool way like a maggot infested body with blood all over it!”

Thomas hid a gag behind his hand as he turned to the intrusive side, “why do you say that?”

“I-” Remus scratched at his arm “I dunno, not really my department.”

Thomas shrugged, “sure, you could say. Though by that logic none of the sides besides Patton could feel either.”

The intrusive side groaned, “now you sound like Lolo!”

“Well,” he said with a small laugh “he is a part of me.”

“Yeah, yeah” Remus grumbled, shoveling a large amount of ice cream into his mouth.

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

Remus froze, turning to look at Thomas with what could only be described as surprise. He acted as if he had never been asked to talk about his feelings before (and he probably hadn’t if Thomas was honest), which made Thomas’ heart ache. It had taken him far too long to accept the others, and it was clear that they had suffered from it. He could fix this though, he had to.

“I-uh-I don’t know how to explain it,” Remus muttered, scratching at his arms again.

Grabbing his hands, Thomas looked into the side’s eyes “can you try? I promise I won’t get mad if you can’t.”

Remus nodded hesitantly, “its… okay imagine a dog right? And the dog is kinda a nuisance, he bites people and he rips things up, and he always comes in with bloody squirrels and shit. The-uh-the owners don’t like him right? They think he’s-uh-gross and smelly, so they lock him away a lot and forget about him. So he starved alot and-uh-he misses one of his owners pretty-um-pretty badly, because they used to be close before-uh-before the owner kind of left him to go spend time with the other owners. Does this-uh-make any sense?”

Thomas nodded, he didn’t understand it perfectly, but he thought he understood it for the most part. He could practically feel Patton crying somewhere in the mindscape, a fact that didn’t surprise him. Patton had always loved animals, and the idea of any (yes even an aggressive one) being neglected hurt him. Not only that, but the unsure and almost scared look Remus was giving him was too concerning to be ignored, even by Patton.

“I think I get it…” Thomas said softly, “but I’m going to take a guess. You’ll tell me if I’m wrong right?”

Remus swallowed before nodding, “yep.”

“I think,” Thomas said softly, “that you're the dog in the story, and that the others are the owners. Right?”

The intrusive side took a moment before nodding, “mhm.”

“And…” Thomas had to take a deep breath before he continued “and Roman is the owner the dog misses right?”

Remus didn’t answer, but Thomas didn’t need him to in order to know that he was right. The way the side immediately looked down, hands starting to shake in Thomas’ own was enough of an indicator. Letting out a soft sigh, Thomas slowly pulled Remus into a loose hug. If he had wanted to, the side could have broken away, but instead he simply melted into Thomas’s touch. He briefly wondered how long Remus had gone without physical affection (clearly too long), and he had to force himself to not get mad at himself for ignoring such an obvious issue.

“I’m sorry,” Remus mumbled eventually, “I’m not supposed to be like this.”

Thomas was glad Remus couldn’t see the tears that formed in his eyes, “you can’t control your feelings Re, that's not how they work. And I’m sorry for letting you and Virgil and Janus get ignored for so long, it's not fair to you guys. You have every right to be upset, and I want to make up for hurting you guys for so long.”

Remus sniffled, “you don’t have to, it's okay.”

“But it's not,” Thomas said firmly, “I can’t change the past, but I can change the future Re. I promise that I won’t push you or Janus or any of the others to the side anymore, and I’m so sorry that we did in the first place.”

The intrusive side smiled into his shoulders, and Thomas could feel his shirt getting wet from what must have been tears “thanks Thomathy.”

“Of course,” Thomas said softly “and for the record, I’m pretty sure Roman misses you too, even if he doesn’t act like it.”

Remus didn’t respond, and Thomas didn’t make him. Eventually they would finish the movie and eat the rest of the melted ice cream, but for now they would just enjoy each other's company. Thomas placed his chin on Remus’ head, his smile shaky as he ran a hand through the side's tangled hair. They were going to be okay, it would just take some time.


	4. Camping

The next two days of Thomas’ vacation had gone surprisingly smoothly. Joan had taken him to watch It 2 as promised, and Remus enjoyed himself as Logan comforted the others. Talyn had done his makeup for pictures on instagram, and had insisted he model his new clothes (much to Roman’s glee). The group had even gone out to the local dog shelter (they had to find a dog specific one due to Thomas’ allergy), which Patton had highly enjoyed.

The next plan on their schedule was camping with Talyn’s brother, something Thomas hadn’t done since he was twelve. Talyn had texted him a list of everything he would need to pack, and it was surprisingly short. The lack of items made him concerned, and he had to try and negotiate between a very anxious Virgil and a very stubborn Logan. Patton was thankfully back to being mediator though and had jumped in before they spent the entire night that way.

“Now come on kiddos,” Patton said, a stressed smile on his face (Thomas supposed some habits die hard), “now isn’t there a compromise you two can come to?”

Virgil snorted, “no? They're obviously not telling him everything he needs to get revenge for him refusing to try on the dresses for the fashion show!”

“Well kiddo,” Patton cut in with his eyebrows furrowed “that just doesn’t sound like the Talyn I know!”

“I am inclined to agree with Patton,” Logan said. “Talyn has never shown any behavior that would cause you to come to that sort of conclusion. Why don’t we just text them and ask why the list seems to be shorter then one would assume it to be?”

Virgil sighed, "okay.”

So Thomas texted them, relieved when he found out that their brother was bringing most of the supplies. He packed alongside Logan, the logical side reading off the list as he grabbed and packed each of the items. Patton had even managed to convince him to take a flashlight and book in case he got bored, something Logan found wholly unnecessary but agreed to nonetheless. 

The trip to the campsite (which was only about an hour away) went smoothly, Thomas singing along to musicals with Roman and a surprisingly laid back Janus as they went. The rental was nice, and not even that expensive (much to Logan’s pleasure). He felt good, and from what he could tell his sides did too. Even Remus popped in from time to time with a wide smile on his face as he reminded Thomas of just how many car accidents there were in a week and how he could likely die on the way to the site.

Even when he arrived at the campsite, the rest of the day went really well. Logan helped him pitch a tent, Patton comforted Virgil while he introduced himself to Talyn’s brother, Remus had enjoyed all of the insects and the ‘beware of bears’ sign, and Janus was surprisingly joyful when they had gone into the woods and found a gecko.

Unfortunately, Thomas’ good luck had run dry. Being known for having moral dilemmas, he was pretty much bound to have another at some point. It had started near the beginning of the evening, when he had realized Roman had been surprisingly silent all day. The last time he had seen the creative side was in the car ride there, and even then Roman had seemed far more subdued then he usually did.

Sneaking away from the group to the rental car to ‘grab something’ (a lie Janus had supplied that Patton had allowed for the good of the cause). Pulling open the driver’s door, Thomas sat down, taking a deep breath before he summoned his creative side. Roman almost fought him at the beginning, Thomas could tell, but he eventually rose up to take his seat on the passenger’s side.

“Yes Thomas?” Roman asked, his voice lacking its usual bravado.

“Are you okay?” he replied with his own question, “I hadn’t seen you sense this morning and I was worried.”

The creative side faltered for a moment before letting a smile slip onto his face, one he would have believed if Janus hadn’t been in the back of his mind pointing out the obvious strain in it “I’m brilliant Thomas, camping is simply… not my style!”

“I don’t doubt that,” Thomas agreed, “but don’t think I haven’t noticed how upset you’ve been over the last few days, you can’t hide it forever Ro.”

“I-” Roman’s smile slipped for a moment, before it came back small and more nervous then happy “I’m perfectly fine Thomas, I’m simply busy coming up with ideas for your next video!”

Thomas didn’t doubt that either, he had heard the ideas running through the back of his mind throughout the day. Most of them hadn’t been full ideas though, just little scraps that had been shot down as soon as they had come. It was an average part of brainstorming according to Logan, but Thomas knew Roman well enough to know it wore the creative side thin.

“I already have quite a few videos backed up Roman,” Thomas pointed out “and even if I didn’t the fans would understand. You don’t have to run yourself ragged, if you need a break it's okay.”

“Is it?” Roman asked, his voice jumping an octave “because Logan and Virgil sure don’t think so! Plus, it's my job Thomas! I shouldn’t be so… bad at it!”

Thomas bit his lip, he knew Logan was only trying to stay ahead of schedule in case he faced a lack of motivation again, and he knew Virgil was only anxious that those videos would flop and they wouldn’t be able to recover quickly. He couldn’t say those things to Roman though, playing devil’s advocate had never worked with him before, and Thomas doubted it would now. A small part of him did note to remind Logan to make a plan to account for burn out, something he probably should have accounted for much sooner.

“I’ll talk to Lo and Virge okay?” Thomas said softly, “I know they can get a little intense about the videos, and I’m sure that's not helping you. And you're not bad at your job Roman, all creator’s get a little burnt out sometimes, it's part of the job. Honestly I’d be a little concerned if you weren’t a little burnt out with how hard you’ve been working yourself lately.”

Roman smiled a little, “thanks Thomas…”

“Of course!” he said with a grin, “you should take a break Ro, you deserve it. I know it may feel like you're letting me down, but I promise you aren’t. We’re on vacation, which means we don’t even have to worry about work okay?”

The creative side nodded, “okay… then I shall help you conquer this vacation and relax to the fullest!”

Thomas laughed, “okay, sure, why not?”

Roman snorted, and the car fell into a comfortable silence. It was nice in California, hot but not in the humid way Florida was. There was a lot of beautiful life there too, something he hadn’t expected when they came out. Thomas didn’t hate nature, he had always found it pretty and he knew it was important, but he had never gotten to really appreciate it for what it was. The sky was painted in warm reds and purples, the sun dipping down in the horizons and a few clouds streaking the sky.

“And Roman?”

“Yeah?”

“You're still my hero.”


	5. Fireworks

When Thomas got back from his discussion with Roman, the others were already gathered around the campfire. Fresh hot-dogs sat on a plate on the top of a bright red cooler, and his mouth watered at the sight. In all the excitement of leaving he had forgotten to eat breakfast, and they had all skipped lunch to set everything up, so he was starving.

He sat down next to Joan, accepting a hot dog as Talyn’s brother burst into an embarrassing story about the enby. Things were going well, and he almost believed that he could get through the rest of the night without another dilemma. That idea was immediately thrown at the window though when he heard that fireworks were going to be set off.

Thomas’ relationship with fireworks was complicated to say the least, his sides all holding different opinions of the entertainment. Roman and Remus loved them, they were bright and colorful and loud, everything the twins loved. Patton wasn’t a fan of how loud they were, but the bright colors and fun designs made up for it. Logan and Janus were more neutral, they found them interesting but they also recognized that they were a nuisance to many and that other forms of entertainment were much better for everyone.

Unlike everyone else, Virgil despised the things. They were loud, making him jump out of his skin with each bang. Plus they were fire hazards, and they could explode or be made into a bomb and were really just far too dangerous for his liking. He also held the irrational fear of one of the sparks flying and hitting Thomas, something that Logan reminded him constantly was illogical but he feared nonetheless. Unlike Patton, the gorgeous colors and designs could not make up for the horrible anxiety that fireworks brought upon him.

This is why, as soon as everyone had gone to their tents to grab a blanket to lay in the grass, Virgil had risen up next to Thomas. Biting his thumb nail the anxious side paced around the small space. The two didn’t share a word, letting the tension hang in the air between them. Thomas kept himself busy trying to pick which blanket he didn’t mind getting dirty as he listened to the slip of shoes against plastic.

“Fireworks Thomas!” Virgil finally exclaimed, voice only slightly distorted “what are you going to do?”

He shrugged, sitting down on his sleeping bag “you tell me.”

The anxious side scratched the back of his neck, not stopping as he paced “you can’t back out because then Talyn’s brother will hate you, and you can’t ask Talyn or Joan to sit it out with you because then they have to miss it because your a scaredy cat, and it's not like you can just sit through it either because-”

“You're scared of them,” Thomas finished, biting his lip.

“No,” Virgil snapped, his voice completely distorted now “you're scared of them, I’m you right?”

Thomas nodded, motioning for the anxious side to sit next to him, when he finally did Thomas sent him a small smile “I know they're really loud, and I know that they're dangerous, but Talyn’s brother said that they were being run by professionals.”

“That doesn’t mean-”

“That doesn’t mean that it's completely safe I know,” Thomas said calmly “but it does mean that it's far more likely that it is safe then that it isn’t. Not to mention, they said we would be watching from a hill, we won’t be close enough even if something does happen.”

“I hate when you get all logical on me,” Virgil growled with no real malice, “it's really hard to do my job when you do that.”

Thomas snorted, “well, you can blame Logan for that.”

The anxious side smirked a bit, but it was rather clear he wasn’t doing much better then he had been before. Thomas supposed that he would have to go the comforting route rather than the logical one, something he probably should have realized in the first place. Virgil had always been closer to Patton anyways, and that was probably why.

“I know it's scary,” Thomas said softly, “but I think we’ll be okay, and Talyn, Joan, and Talyn’s brother will be there the whole time. I’ll be there with you Virge, and if you want I’m sure Patton and everybody will come to watch it with us. You won’t be alone.”

The anxious side shifted so that his shoulder was touching Thomas, which the man took as an invitation to swing his arm over his shoulder “thanks Thomathy.”

“Did you steal that from Remus?” Thomas said, shaking his head with a laugh as Virgil looked away “come on Virge, he’s not that bad, you gotta admit.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure thing Thomas.”

It didn’t go nearly as bad as Virgil had thought either, just like he was promised. The anxious side was curled between Patton and Thomas the whole time, sound cancelling headphones over his ears. The twins were excitedly jumping up and looking at each firework, getting along for once. Logan and Janus were sitting next to each other, eyes trained on the sky while they talked about philosophy.

Maybe fireworks weren’t so bad after all.


	6. Campfire

The fireworks were beautiful, and they lasted for hours. Talyn’s brother had left after only a half hour, and Talyn and Joan left soon after. Thomas stayed for the whole thing though, watching the sky be lit by bright colors while his sides talked around him. It was nice, to just be with his sides without a dilemma. Thomas wished they could do this more often.

After the show was over, he made his way back to the site, surprised to see the fire just as lively as it was before they had left. As far as he knew, the fire was supposed to be put out so there wasn’t a wild fire or something. Thomas sat down on one of the chairs though, not sure what compelled him to do it as he watched the flames rise into the sky.

“Most stars aren’t visible due to light pollution, we technically should be able to see the whole milky way at night.”

Thomas jumped, neck snapping over to see Logan sitting in the chair next to him. The logical side seemed calm, his eyes trained on the sky. Looking up, Thomas’ breath was taken away. It wasn’t a milky way, but the sky was splattered in stars, their light dappling the dark blue background. Even though he lived in a suburban area, the light pollution had still been enough to disguise the stars, the most he had seen at one time was five.

“Do you ever wish you could live on another planet Thomas?” Logan asked, “I have. I suppose any gas giant is out of the question though, you would simply fall though it, likely torn to smithereens from the winds.”

Thomas hummed, “If you could only live on one planet though, which one would you choose?”

Logan didn’t answer for awhile, and Thomas let the silence carry until he did “I would choose Pluto, I realize it is no longer considered a planet, and it wouldn’t provide much in terms of interesting agriculture, but I am rather partial to its existence I suppose.”

“Why?”

“It's…” the logical side trailed of, face contorting into one of frustration “It's hard to explain, but I believe it has to do with how cast out it is. Unlike the Sun, the Planets, even other Dwarf Planets, Pluto is an anomaly, it's alone. While it is classified as a Dwarf Planet, a lesser planet, it used to be one of the eight. It doesn’t belong in either, too big to be a dwarf, too small to be one of the eight, too big to be an asteroid or some other form of space rock. It's an outcast in a supposedly unified system.”

“Like you?”

Thomas watched out of the corner of his eye as Logan flinched, hands going to fiddle with his tie. As much as he hated to admit it, the logical side was an outcast amongst his sides. While Virgil floated in between, he was still emotional enough to fit in and get along with everyone if he tried. Janus was closed off sure, but he understood emotions and knew how to deal with them. Logan had none of these skills, he denied having emotions in the first place, and he didn’t understand them in the slightest. It made him a loner amongst the other sides, even if no one meant for that to happen.

“I suppose I can see what you mean,” the logical side said softly, his voice hardly audible beneath the crackles of the fire “if you were to count the sides as a solar system you would be the Sun, and the sides would be orbiting you. In this hypothetical situation, I suppose I could be seen as a… lesser planet.”

‘“But are dwarf planets really lesser?” Thomas asked, turning to look at the logical side, who met his eyes “think about it Logan. Dwarf planets are even more of an anomaly then the eight, no one knows why they formed smaller than everyone else. Not to mention, all of them are so unexplored and hold hundreds of secrets. Just because their smaller doesn’t mean their lesser, heck, didn’t scientists say Pluto could have held life if it weren’t so far from the Sun?”

Logan nodded, “they did, though Venus and Mars could have also held life, Venus was simply taken over by glass house gasses and Mars was simply in an ill-fitting place.”

“True enough,” Thomas agreed, “but Pluto holds a lot of secrets, remember that heart-shaped crater? People have no idea how that formed. Plus, didn’t they speculate that its core was just frozen water or something? It may be a little smaller, but Pluto and all the other Dwarfs are just as valid as planets as the eight. I don’t care what scientists said, Pluto is still the ninth planet to me.”

Logan smiled a little, which was a win in Thomas’ books. He would never be able to get the logical side to be vulnerable, but he could let him know he was wanted, even if it was in space language. He knew it wouldn’t solve anything, but Logan had always worked better with proof than hearsay, he would show that the logical side deserved to be listened to, and Thomas was sure the others would be willing to help.

The logical side instructed him to get some sleep, they would have a long last vacation day tomorrow after all. Putting out the fire, Thomas did as he was told, snuggling into his sleeping bag and quickly falling asleep. And if his dreams were filled with stars and planets? Well, that was between him and a certain, sheepish Prince.


	7. Pride

The last day of their vacation was special for one reason, they were going to Pride. Thomas had obviously been to Pride when he was in Florida, but he had never been to it in California, and something told him it would be a bit different. Not to mention, something told him they might run into a few Sanders Sides fans, which was always great.

That was why, even though it was only eight in the morning, Thomas was going through his bag to pick something to wear. They had gotten back to the hotel at six, and he hadn’t even bothered to go back to sleep. Pride started at two in the afternoon, and it would take them an hour just to drive out to the area. The time was making him anxious, hence Virgil sitting cross-legged on the bed in front of his suitcase.

In fact, all of Thomas’ sides were there. The twins were standing next to him on either side, squabbling as they pointed at different articles of clothing. Patton was standing next to Roman, offering little suggestions here or there when asked. Janus was leaning on his cane near the front of the bed, feeding a look of boredom as he offered small sarcastic quips from time to time. Logan sat next to Virgil on the bed, his legs hanging off the side as he brushed a hand through the anxious side’s hair to calm him.

“Thomas what if something happens?” Virgil muttered anxiously, biting his nails “what if there are protests there? You don’t know how things work here, they could be even more violent!”

“Even if that is true,” Logan said calmly “we will be surrounded by people who accept and support us. I highly doubt they will let any amount of violence slide.”

“Yeah kiddo!” Patton said, sending a small smile Virgil’s way “Talyn and Joan will be with us too, and I don’t think they’d let anyone hurt Thomas.”

Virgil didn’t look fully convinced, but Thomas took his silence as a good sign. He had every reason to be anxious, but he had been excited to do this sense Joan had told him about it, he wasn’t about to back out now. Besides, Thomas knew Logan and Patton were right, he wasn’t going to be alone.

“What about this?” Remus asked, holding up a bright red shirt with a pair of dark green shorts.

Roman gagged, “no, no way! Leave the clothes to me, you're already doing his makeup!”

“Wait what?” Thomas asked, looking between the twins.

Remus laughed as Roman let out a sigh, “I’m kinda… shit at makeup, but Remus is pretty good at it so… yeah.”

Patton lightly smacked Roman’s arm for the curse as Virgil cut in, “Remus did teach me how to do my makeup, and his isn’t half bad. He’s actually really freaking good, he just doesn’t do it much.”

The intrusive side grinned, sharp teeth glinting “you tickle me emo!”

Virgil groaned, leaning back to lay his head on Logan’s shoulder. Janus snorted, attempting to cover it up with a cough. Rolling his eyes with a smile, Thomas went back to sifting through his suitcase. Something must have caught Patton’s eye though because the moral side leaped over to grab a dark magenta article from the bag. Patton’s eyes lit up as he unfolded the article, revealing a long t-shirt dress covered in small yellow stars.

“You could wear this!” Patton exclaimed, bouncing on his toes.

Thomas felt conflicted, eyes flicking over to gauge his other side’s thoughts on it. Roman looked like he wanted to say yes, gears obviously churning as he planned the outfit out in his head. Virgil seemed anxious, staring at the dress like it was a spider rather than a piece of clothing. Logan seemed interested, mildly of course, but mild was still a lot when it came to the logical side. Janus was looking him in the eyes, nodding slightly as if to say ‘you want it so I approve’. Remus was already grinning, the dress wasn’t his fashion but Thomas figured he liked the idea of a dress.

“I… don’t know-”

“Thomas,” Janus cut in “you want to wear the dress, so do it. Out of all the places to wear it, Pride is literally the best place to do it. You’ll be protected, and you're less likely to be hot in a dress then a shirt and jeans.”

Roman nodded frantically, giving his best puppy dog eyes “please Thomas! You can wear leggings and stuff if you want!”

“Oh fine!”

The moral and creative sides let out a squeal before practically shoving the dress, a pair of leggings, and a pair of boots into his arms and pushing him into the bathroom to change. Once he had, Thomas stared into the hotel mirror, a small smile falling on his lips as he looked over himself. The dress was a bit loose, but at the same time tight in all the right places, it looked rather nice on him. He couldn’t see the leggings or boots, but considering he had gotten them from Talyn he had a feeling they looked good.

When he came out he was met with a large array of reactions, all of them positive. Patton squealed, coming up to hug him and crying about how proud he was. Roman was looking a little smug, but at the same time he was also jumping on his toes and grinning widely with excitement. Virgil still seemed a bit nervous, but he nodded to Thomas with a small smile. Logan also gave him a small nod, something sparkling in his eyes that looked suspiciously like joy. Janus was trying to hide the wide smile on his face behind his hand, giving Thomas his own nod.

Remus’ reaction was completely different, because instead of showing his approval subtly he was jumping on his feet and dragging Thomas back to the bathroom. Before the Youtube star could even ask he was plopped down on a newly formed chair, dozens of different makeup palettes now cluttering the hotel counter. Virgil even snuck in to lean on the wall beside them, that small smirk still on his face.

“How is this even going to work?” Thomas asked bewildered “I thought you couldn’t interact with me?”

“We can’t,” Virgil said with a shrug.

“Then how?-”

“Shut up Thomathy!” Remus said with not nearly as much growl in it as usual “I can’t have you talking while I do your make up!”

When Remus was done he turned Thomas’ chair to face the mirror, a almost nervous smile now crossing his features. Virgil had helped some, but it was only some ideas here or there, all of the actual work had been the intrusive side. Thomas found this hard to believe though, because he looked absolutely beautiful. Other than the pink tone of his lips and the rainbow band going from eye to eye, he wasn’t wearing much, but the simplicity was what made it so perfect.

“It's so beautiful…”

“Really?”

“You did good Remus.”

“... Thanks Thomathy.”

They left soon after that, joining Joan and Talyn in the rental car on an annoying hour long trip. The bonus was that the two enbies thought he looked incredible, which had certainly boosted the twin’s confidence. Talyn had decked out as well, even dying their hair rainbow for the occasion. Joan was simply wearing what they normally did, but their beanie was also rainbow, just as subtle as Joan’s usual style.

When they got there the place was already crowded with people, all kinds of flags and colors blurring together. The place was horribly loud, chanting and yelling and talking all fading into each other like some sort of sound smoothie. The three adults went to a few vendors, grabbing different items and specifically their flags before joining the crowd in the march. Thomas’ sides joined him, each of them decked out in their own rainbow colors.

And if there were any protesters? Thomas didn’t even see them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for everyone who read this dumb story! I had a ton of fun writing it, and this is actually my first finished multi-chapter story ever so I'm really proud of it! I hope you enjoyed it and feel free to leave suggestions for other things I should write or even more challenges for me to participate in!


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